French Translation of the Week

Between January and September, in the region of Zinder alone (in central-east Niger), about 362 children under the age of five are dead due to malnutrition.  It's a situation that is still endemic, the United Nations office of Niger reported on Monday.

Entre janvier et septembre, dans la seule région de Zinder (centre-est du Niger), quelque 362 enfants de moins de cinq ans sont morts des suites de malnutrition. Une situation qui est désormais endémique, rapporte lundi un bureau de l'ONU au Niger.

This article has been translated from French. Click here to read the original version on Jeune Afrique.

"According to the last epidemiological report on the situation in Zinder, there were 79,087 cases of acute severe malnutrition in children under the age of five, of which 362 had died between January 1 and September 23," highlights one statistic of the Bureau of Humanitarian Affairs of the UN at Niamey.

Close to 90% of the deceased had been registered to live in the city of Zinder, so two other areas of the region of Zinder - Magaria and Mirriah - where about 2 million people live, adds to this number.  Close to Nigeria, this second most populated region of Niger is regularly hit by consecutive severe food crises due to drought, affecting women and children particularly.

Malnutrition is present everywhere

Malnutrition, mild or acute, is present in all eight regions of Niger, a poor desert state that is frequently confronted with food crises due to drought.  Since the beginning of the year, the NGO Doctors Without Borders (MSF) says it has observed a rise in malnutrition in many of its projects within the country, as compared to the same period in 2012.

A national inquiry conducted in June in Niger observed a reduction "from 14.8% in 2012 to 13.3% in 2013" in acute malnutrition in children under the age of 5, even though it remains "above the 10% threshold of concern established by the World Health Organization."

Over the course of the first seven months of the year, 505,976 cases of malnutrition were treated by public health facilities of Niger, close to half of the expected cases in 2013, indicated the Nigerien Minister of Health.

According to UNICEF, malnutrition is largely caused by the absence of essential nutrients for children, delaying development and weakening the immune system against ordinary childhood illnesses.  Infectious diseases, lack of drinkable water, and poor hygiene "significantly contribute to the deterioration" of the nutritional status of children, the Minister of Health points out.  Above all, "malnutrition and malaria" will remain "a fatal combination for children under five years of age," many NGOs warn.

Article translated by Allie Stauss, Staff Intern for the Program on Leadership and Building State Capacity at the Wilson Center.

Photo attributed to Africa Renewal on Flickr Commons.